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The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday said it has supplied more bank notes to the public during November 10 to December 5, 2016 period than it did in the whole of last three years even as it underscored hoarding of notes helps nobody’s cause.
The central bank also emphasised that the decision to withdraw the legal tender status of the ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes with effect from November 9, 2016 has not been taken in haste but after detailed deliberations
R Gandhi, Deputy Governor, observed that the motivations for the decision are to deal with the problem of high quality counterfeit notes in these denominations and unearth black money that may be held in cash.
From 10th November 2016 to 5th December 2016, the Reserve Bank has supplied to the public banknotes of various denominations worth ₹ 3.81 lakh crore.
As regards lower denomination notes of ₹ 100, ₹ 50, ₹ 20 and ₹ 10, the Reserve Bank, over its counters and through bank branches all over the country, has supplied 1,910 crore pieces of denominations in this period. (₹ 100 – 850 crore, ₹ 50 – 180 crore, ₹ 20 – 310 crore and ₹ 10 – 570 crore).
Gandhi explained that "There had to be a high level of secrecy surrounding this decision and the fact is that such a large country was indeed taken by surprise when the decision was announced.''
"The Reserve Bank and the Central Government were conscious of certain immediate difficulties that the public at large could face and all efforts were made to minimise them and mitigate them," said the Deputy Governor.
The problems of the common persons, according to Gandhi, were at the top of the policy makers’ radar and all dispensations were calibrated to address them without at the same time jeopardising the achievement of the larger policy objectives.
The Deputy Governor reiterated that there is adequate supply of notes and hoarding of notes helps nobody’s cause.
"We also strongly advocate the public to switch to digital payment modes given that there are several options, there are adequate safeguards and there is an increasing acceptability of this mode of payment by a large number of recipients," he said.
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